2009年6月8日 星期一

The Lee rifles

The above shows a Remington-Lee rifle (length: 1340mm and weight: 4.1kg; range: 100-1,200 yards) and its accompanying bayonet. This was the standard issue of Qing soldiers during the Sino-French war. Its caliber was listed as the .43 Spanish type (or 11-mm). The cartridges were packed with black powder.上圖是林明敦-黎意步槍 (全长1340mm, 重4.1kg, 射程100一1200码) 及刺刀.乃中法戰爭中清軍標準裝備.其口徑為11毫米(.43西班牙式).彈殼內裝的是黑火藥.

On May 6, 1884, The Qing Government entered a purchase agreement (shown above) with Remington & Sons, for 3,900-4,000 Lee rifles (model M1879), at a cost of US$29,840. This batch was tested in the Battle of Bang Bo (known in China as 鎮南關之役), between Mar 25-28, 1885, on the French Foreign Legion 2nd Battalion. In this battle, the French casualties totaled 463, marking for the first time in modern history, a Chinese victory through superior fire power over a foreign invader.一八八四年5月6日,清廷以美金29,840元的代價向Remington & Sons公司購買了3,900-4,000把M1879型黎意步槍(合同如上).這批步槍在鎮南關之役(1885年3月25-28日)大為發威,把對敵的法國外籍兵團第二營打得落花流水,傷亡463人.這是近代史上,中國首次以優勢火力打敗了外國侵略者.

In early 1884, the Chinese had already bought more than 9,000 Model M1882 Lee rifles (serial number 14,000- 21,000 and 23,000-25,000) which were branded "林明敦廠製造 瑞生洋行經承" on the bullet chamber. 林明敦廠 was the Remington & Sons Co and 瑞生洋行 was a German import-export company, the "Buchheister and Co".早先在一八八四年初,清廷已購入了9,000枝M1882型的黎意步槍(序列號14,000-21,000及23,000-25,000). 槍膛上刻有"林明敦廠製造 瑞生洋行經承"字樣. 林明敦廠即Remington & Sons公司, 瑞生洋行則是一家德國進出口商 "Buchheister and Co".

The Qing officials had mistakenly assumed that Lee was the Chinese family name 李 (pronounced Li), hence these purchases. Remington rifles in fact had already been very popular in China since the 1870s. For example, about 14,400 Remington No 1 Rolling Block rifles were imported between 1871-1874.購買這些黎意步槍,是因為清廷官員誤以為Lee為李鴻章之李.不過林明敦步槍在1870年代在中國已很受歡迎,比如在1871-1874年間就進口了14,400枝第壹號Rolling Block步槍.

In the Battle of the Fisherman's Wharf in Danshui, the defending Qing regular army would have carried the same Lee rifles and .43 Spanish cartridges.淡水漁人碼頭之戰中,清正規軍應是配備了同樣的黎意步槍及.43西班牙口徑的彈藥.